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Lecture
‘Two Enlightenment collections of scientific instruments in Hanoverian Britain’
Research into scientific instrument collections over the past forty years has shown that it is only relatively recently that instruments have been collected for antiquarian reasons. This lecture will discuss two long-dispersed collections owned by two Scottish noblemen, and attempt to characterise the reasons for their contents. Both collectors were...Morrison-Low, Alison
microscope, astronomical device, scientific instruments, collectors, and museum collections
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Lecture
Instruments, Institutions and Individuals: The Local Networks of the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, in the 19th Century
Dr Rebekah Higgitt has been Principal Curator of Science at National Museums Scotland since August 2020. She was previously Senior Lecturer in History of Science at the University of Kent and Curator of History of Science at Royal Museums Greenwich, having done her PhD at Imperial College London and postdoctoral...Higgitt, Rebekah
19th century, scientific instruments, Edinburgh, Astronomy, and Royal Observatory
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Lecture
The Art of Tapestry
On day 1 you will hear from experts in the field and find out more about the Burrell Collection tapestries and Medieval and Renaissance Tapestries in general. We will also document and discuss the artistic value, nature, and identity of 21st century tapestry as a distinctive Scottish art form with...Wyld, Helen
Renaissance , Medieval , and European Tapestries
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Lecture
Revealing and Connecting African Collections in Scottish Museums
The project will establish a collaborative network to enable collection holders to engage with museums in Africa and the Caribbean and people of African and Caribbean descent in Scotland. These partnerships will explore provenance, colonial histories and legacies and the relevance of the collections to descendent and diaspora community interests...Giblin, John ; Grout, Nikki
African collections review, Scottish museums, and partnership project
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Lecture
Community-led collecting and the Exchange project
The £250,000 pilot project, entitled Exchange: Community-Led Collections Research, will see funding distributed to galleries, libraries, archives and museums to work with South Asian, African and Caribbean diaspora organisations to answer research questions identified by these community groups. The year-long project will see National Museums Scotland and the National Maritime Museum, London, working as a hub;...Diver, Iona
Scotland, Scotland's material heritage, Colonial legacies, Community-led , Colonial histories, Collecting, Material heritage, and The Exchange project
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Lecture
A temple for the sun-god: remarkable finds from Roman Inveresk
Dr Fraser Hunter, Principle Curator of Iron Age and Roman Collections at the National Museum of Scotland, returns to the 1722 Waggonway Heritage Centre to give a lecture on the Roman finds at Inveresk, including clues which point to a Temple of Mithras.Hunter, Fraser
Mithras, Roman Scotland, stone altar , and Inveresk
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Lecture
Celts: Art and Identity
Dr Fraser Hunter FSA Scot, Principal Curator, Iron Age & Roman Collections in the National Museums Scotland, presents a lecture on “Celts: Art and Identity” to coincide with the international exhibition on Celts held in the NMS in collaboration with the British Museum. The lecture was recorded on Monday 11...Hunter, Fraser
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Lecture
The Power of Glass
The conference will examine the artistic movements prevailing during that period and frame modern and contemporary glass art as a global phenomenon.Kelly, Jessamy ; Rothwell, Sarah
glass art, modern, and contemporary
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Lecture
Decolonial futures for ancestral remains in Scotland Forum
In Edinburgh University’s Anatomical Museum, there are nearly 1700 ancestral remains displaced from over 55 countries across the world. Often former students stole these people from burial grounds and battlefields and sent them to anatomy professors in Scotland. Taken illicitly, their descendants are often unaware that their ancestors still reside...Alberti, S J M M
Edinburgh, anatomy , repatriation, museum collections, Aberdeen, colonial legacies, and provenance
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Lecture
Scottish agate collecting through the lens of the National Museums Scotland collection
Agates have fascinated people for thousands of years and have particular cultural relevance for Scotland through their use creating pebble jewellery. This talk will cover agate formation, why Scotland is so prolific for agate hunting and show some of the best agate collecting locations through the lens of the significant...Brown, Emily
Scottish agates, mineral collections, and National Museum of Scotland
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Lecture
Buying Power: British Archaeology and the Antiquities Market in Egypt and Sudan 1880–1939
Where did the ancient Egyptian collections in National Museums Scotland come from? How did they get here? Join Dr Dan Potter to discover the untold stories behind these enduringly popular collections. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries museums and individuals competed to collect the ‘best’ ancient Egyptian objects.... -
Lecture
The Galloway Hoard
As part of Glasgow’s Doors Open Festival, organised by Glasgow Building Preservation Trust, Dr Martin Goldberg will be coming to talk to us about the Galloway Hoard! Martin is Senior Curator, Early Medieval and Viking Collections at National Museums Scotland and a long-time supporter of the Govan Stones Project.Goldberg, Martin
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Lecture
XRF Analysis, Alva cobalt, West Pans and Longton Hall Porcelain
Research conducted in 1993 by Middleton & Cowell at the British Museum suggests that cobalt used to decorate porcelain from William Littler’s venture at Longton Hall (1749-60) was chemically distinct from that used by him while at West Pans (1764-77). They considered that at least some West Pans cobalt was...Haggarty, George R ; Jones , Richard
Longton Hall , XRF analysis, Scottish ceramic collections, cobalt porcelain decoration, William Littler, West Pans, and Alva silver mines
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Lecture
Materialising the Scottish Renaissance at National Museums Scotland
Dr Groundwater will talk about the material objects relating to the Renaissance.Groundwater, Anna
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Lecture
Public History Roundtable contribution
The Renaissance and Early Modern Research Alliance (REMRA) promotes co-operation and cross-disciplinary research across the various centres and institutes of the University of the Highlands and Islands. The group is convened by Dr Kathrin Zickermann (UHI Centre for History) and consists of c.20 members of staff (including visiting professors and...Groundwater, Anna
Renaissance and Early Modern , Research Alliance, collaboration, and material culture
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Lecture
Collecting and Curating Southeast Asian Art: In Conversation
This conversation between the two curators, Alexandra Green and Rosanna Nicolson, celebrates two exhibitions focusing on Southeast Asian art–“Burma to Myanmar” and “Theravada Buddhism”–concurrently showing at The British Museum and at National Museums of Scotland respectively. It highlights issues related to the formation of Asian art collections in the UK,... -
Lecture
Fair Isle Knitting: origins and authenticity
Curated by Philip Fimmano as part of New York Textile Month, this special online conference brings together speakers from around the globe, continuing our dedication to textile creativity and education by offering this exciting programme free to all students and teaching faculty.Wyld, Helen
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Lecture
The radiation of Nesospiza finches on the Tristan da Cunha Islands seminar
Ask anyone interested in birds for an example of adaptive radiations, and they will probably mention the Darwin’s Finches, the evolutionary rock stars of the Galápagos Islands. But did you know about the Nesospiza finches, endemic to Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic? Tristan is a small and very...Stervander , Martin
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Lecture
War and diplomacy on the northern frontier: the impact of Rome on south-west Scotland and beyond
The story of Roman Scotland often gets told from the Roman point of view, with a focus on the army and its actions. But the legions did not simply march into an empty landscape. The Iron Age peoples of Scotland reacted to this invasion in many different ways, from outright...Hunter, Fraser
Roman Scotland, Iron Age, societies, fortifications, and frontiers
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Lecture
Old Kilpatrick in Early Christian Strathclyde
A church stood at Old Kilpatrick in the 12th century, but its origins are certainly much older. Its name and dedication are suggestive of an early medieval foundation, supported by the presence of 'Govan Style' sculpture found locallyMaldonado, Adrián
Old Kilpatrick, Early Medieval Scotland, early Christianity , Govan Stones , and Kingdom of Strathclyde
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Lecture
Geology to jewellery: sourcing and crafting Scottish metals and gems in the nineteenth century
From the late eighteenth century, jewellers in Scotland used precious metals and colourful stone to craft little luxuries that were bought, gifted and worn by men, women and children. This paper explores how jewellers and lapidaries responded and contributed to developing knowledge about geology and mineralogy through the things they...Laurenson, Sarah
jewellery, geology, jewellers, mineralogy, precious stones, lapidaries, and Scotland
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Lecture
The Crack of Doom: Viking-Age hoards before the hacksilver horizon
Viking-age hacksilver hoards (c. 880 – 1050) consist mainly of silver bullion, attesting to the rise of a metal-weight market economy. However, across Britain, there is a brief window of time in which the rate of hoard deposition begins to accelerate, but before hacksilver becomes the dominant component. In light...Maldonado, Adrián
Galloway Hoard, Cheshire hoards, Chester, Wirral, Early Medieval , and Viking Age
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Lecture
The Galloway Hoard: viking age treasure
Dr Adrian Maldonado joins us to speak about the Galloway Hoard, the world-famous viking-age treasure.Maldonado, Adrián
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Lecture
Beyond the Bubble: Taking Taxonomy Outside the Museum
Ashleigh Wiffen from the National Museums Scotland gave us brilliant examples of how we can take #taxonomy out of the museum and engage with a wider audience.Whiffin, Ashleigh
taxonomy , keynote talk, invertebrate collection, audience development, and external engagement
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Lecture
Radar and air defence of Scotland during the Second World War
This talk will look at the growth of the air defences and their unknown achievements in defending the skies over Scotland. Much has been written about the role of radar and how, as part of an integrated air defence system, it helped win the Battle of Britain in 1940. However,...Brown, Ian
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Lecture
The Peebles Hoard: A Late Bronze Age discovery from the Scottish Borders
In June 2020, a metal detectorist found several peculiar bronze fittings near Peebles in the Scottish Borders. Subsequent excavation by the Treasure Trove Unit and National Museums Scotland revealed these to be part of a substantial Late Bronze Age hoard comprising unique bronze fittings and equipment with surviving organic material,...Freeman, Emily ; Knight, Matthew G
scabbard, metal detecting , bronze fittings , Late Brown Age, organic material, Treasure Trove, Peebles Hoard, and sword
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Lecture
Street House in the Context of Early Neolithic Britain
A conference will be held in the autumn of 2024 to present the evidence for the Early Neolithic salt production site at Street House, near Loftus. The site was discovered in 2014 during a programme of excavations. It is the only currently known salt ‘factory’ in Britain and the earliest...Sheridan, J A
archaeological excavations, salt production, Street House, saltern, and Early Neolithic Britain
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Lecture
The Neolithic Pottery from Street House
A conference will be held in the autumn of 2024 to present the evidence for the Early Neolithic salt production site at Street House, near Loftus. The site was discovered in 2014 during a programme of excavations. It is the only currently known salt ‘factory’ in Britain and the earliest...Sheridan, J A
Neolithic Pottery, Early Neolithic Britain, Analysis, archaeological excavations, and Street House
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Lecture
A “kind of exploration or antiquity-dealing-business”: Egyptian archaeology and the Antiquities Trade 1880-1939
Egyptological historiography has often focussed on the apparent scientific heroism of archaeologists, obscuring the reality that many of the same heroes were also active in the antiquities market, buying, and selling objects freely. This lecture will discuss the results of research into the entanglement of archaeology and the market 1880-1939.... -
Lecture
Getting away from it all – Marie de Guise’s Town House, Blyth’s Close, Edinburgh
As Principal Curator for Renaissance and Early Modern History, Anna played a major part in acquiring for the museum the four decorative oak roundels which once adorned the rooms of Marie de Guise’s residence in Blyth’s Close, Edinburgh. The roundels reveal much about the power and influence of Marie in...Groundwater, Anna
oak roundels, architecture, Renaissance , material culture, mansion, Marie de Guise, Scotland, Blyth’s Close, Edinburgh, and sculpture
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Lecture
Radar and the Air Defence System in Scotland
Ian was lead curator for the redevelopment of two hangars in 2016 with new, people-focused interpretation which has been well received by visitors and the museum sector. Ian is a graduate of the Universities of Stirling and Leicester and his main research interest is in the history of radar, which...Brown, Ian
Radar in Scotland 1938-46, Radio Detection And Ranging (RADAR), early warning system, history of radar, and Radio Detection Finding (RDF)
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Lecture
The Last Days of Fortriu: Portmahomack in the Viking Age
Join Dr Adrián Maldonado from National Museums Scotland to hear the latest update on research around the archaeological site at Portmahomack. The archaeological excavations at Portmahomack which ran from 1996-2007 revealed what is now the best-known Pictish monastery. It was a thriving workshop, creating sacred metalwork, masterpieces of stone sculpture,...Maldonado, Adrián
workshop, archaeological excavations, Pictish kingdom, Pictish monastery, Fortriu, christian site, craftspeople , and Portmahomack